Ranald gillis



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RANALD GILLIS, OF SYDNEY, CANADA.

SAILING VESSEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 57 5,232, dated January 12, 1897.

Application filed July 15, 1896- fierial No. 599,245. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RANALD GILLIs, of Sydney, Cape Breton, in the Province of Nova Scotia and Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and Improved Sailing Vessel, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide a vessel with a superior movable keel, and also a keel which may be balanced to suit the exigencies of the occasion during which it is used. I attain this end by certain peculiar features of construction, which will be fully described, and defined in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference inclicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a longitudinal section of my invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section thereof on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a top plan.

The vessel A may be of any approved construction, and the keel B includes a trunk 10, rising from an opening in the bottom of the vessel after the manner of the usual centerboard-wells. lVithin this trunk is a shell 11, having an oval form in horizontal section. The shell fits in the trunk 10, which latter conforms to the shape of the shell. The shell has outwardly-projecting flanges 12 at its up per edges which engage the top of the trunk to hold the shell in place. The shell 11 projects below the vessel, as may be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, and tapers to a sharp edge at its lower 3 5 portion.

Fitted within the shell 11 is a series of weights 13, which conform to the shape of the shell, and are therefore of sizes gradually increasing from that of the lowermost weight. Each weight has an indentation 14 at its upper side, across which a handle-bar 15 is passed, whereby the weights may be readily handled. By these means the weight of the centerboard may be regulated so as to suit the conditions under which the vessel is sailing. The number of the weights is of course immaterial, and they may be used whether in the number shown or with only one weight in the keel.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A marine vessel, having a trunk rising from an opening in its bottom, a keel removably held within the trunk, the keel consisting in a shell and projecting through the opening and below the vessel, and a plurality of removable weights superposed in the shell and conforming to the shape thereof, substantially as described.

2. A vessel having an opening in its bottom, the opening being elongated fore and aft, a hollow or shell-like keel passing through the opening and extending below the vessel and conforming to the shape of the opening, and a series of weights elongated with the keel and removably seated within the keel,

the weights being superposed on each other, and each weight snugly engaging the sides of the keel, substantially as described.

RANALD GILLIS. \Vitnesses:

COLIN OHIsHOLM, JULIA OOONNELL. 

